Hello Football Season!!!

Fall is my absolute favorite season of all. I love the colors, the smells, the crisp, cool weather - and the beginning of college football season!!! To be specific, I love watching my Alma Mater - the Kansas State Wildcats - on the field. To make this season even better, we have our all-time favorite coach back at the helm this year. Don't get me wrong, I know he can't perform miracles and we're not going to be better overnight, but I think he brings something back to our program that has been missing for a while now. A strong work ethic, proven success, and RESPECT. He has respect for the University, himself, the fans, and the players and he reaps just as much in return. We've got win #1 under our belts already and are looking for #2 and some conference wins this year too. My only wish for this season is that we could get up to a game at some point, but it doesn't look like that is likely. I miss the days of being a season ticket holder and traveling to Manhattan several weekends during the fall. I miss the atmosphere of the stadium and the excitement that just crackles through the crowds. I am waiting for the day, a few years down the road, when we can introduce our kids to something that meant so much to us in our college days and share that excitement with them! Until then, I'll be sitting in my living room every Saturday afternoon from September to November and cheering on my Cats! :)

FOBTY 9/3 - Quirky Questions

After a month (or two) off, I'm jumping back into challenges at Sweet Shoppe. This week's FOBTY is a set of quirky questions for me to answer. Here goes!

1. Do you wash your own car or do you go to a car wash?

It depends. If it's really grimy I wash it at home so I can really scrub and get that layer of film off of it. If it's mainly just dusty, I zip through the car wash when I'm out and about.

2. Are you wearing socks right now?

Nope. And I won't until I absolutely have to when the weather turns colder. Until then I'll get away with flip flops and ballet flats and no socks.

3. Where were you 3 hours ago?

At home just getting out of bed and into the shower. Morning routine has started earlier now since our first day of school was yesterday.

4. Do you have laundry waiting to be done?

There's always laundry waiting to be done at our house. ;) But I did a TON yesterday so it's just odds and ends right now. It'll wait another couple of days. :)

5. Can you pick objects up with your toes?

Yes! And Paul thinks it's the funniest thing. Most of the time I'll grab small things with my toes instead of bending over to pick them up - think clothes off the bathroom floor, small toys, etc. Weird, I know.

FOBTY July 16 - Where Should You Spend Your Summer?

Hmmm, I'm not sure about that!

You Should Spend Your Summer in the City

You're a trooper, and the summer heat doesn't really get to you. So you rather stay in the city, where you can sip iced lattes and go to midnight movies. Forget the beach! You rather be where the good restaurants and stores are.

Where Should You Spend Your Summer?

Holy Moly it's HOT!

That pretty much sums up the weather we're having in Kansas right now. After starting out the week on a fairly mild note for July, we're paying the price now. The temperature is supposed to climb to about 106 degrees today and if it's anything like yesterday it won't cool off much until well after the sun goes down. We broke out the sprinkler at home yesterday so the kids could cool off and that's the plan for today too. Other than that, we just try to stay in the a/c as much as we can during the heat of the day so we don't melt! I'd love to take the kids to the pool, but with their ages and skill levels (or lack thereof) it's too much to take them all by myself. We're going to try and go a few times next week when my friend gets back to town and can go with us. Until then, the sprinkler it will be!

FOBTY July 2 - What flavor smoothie are you?

I'm a Banana Smoothie! :)

You Are a Banana Smoothie

You are friendly and popular without even trying to be. People just like you. You are easy to be around and never offend everyone. You're quite mild. You have a warm demeanor, and many people find you to be inviting. You are sympathetic and kind. You have a soft spot in your heart for everyone.

What Flavor Smoothie Are You?

FOBTY 6/25 - What Kind of Swimsuit Are You?

That's pretty fitting for me! :)

You Are a One Piece Swimsuit

You are a bit conservative and traditional. And you are not at the beach to put your body on display! You are a low maintenance person. You like to look good, but you're not vain. Your taste tends to be sophisticated. You always opt for classy over trashy.

What Kind of Swimsuit Are You?

FOBTY 6/18 - What's your gift?

Here's my gift! :)I'm not so sure about the lack of ability to relax but the rest seems pretty on-target.

Your Gift Is Energy

You are easily excitable, and you love to be on the go. You crave intensity. You need to live a dynamic, interesting, and challenging life. Otherwise, you get bored. It's hard for you to relax. You're constantly being inspired to do something. You're the type of person who finds success, innovation, and creativity easy.

What's Your Gift?

FOBTY June 11 - What taste are you?

Sweet!!! :)

You Are Sweet

You are easy going and pleasant. You are always happy and upbeat. No wonder you're so popular. There's nothing to dislike about you. You are both likable and lovable. In fact, some people feel very passionately about you. You are simply bliss inducing. You remind people to take time and enjoy life.

What Taste Are You?

June is Zoo Month!

Who knew? Maybe we'll have to plan a zoo trip sometime this month! This past spring I had the opportunity to visit the zoo with Corbin's first grade class. The zoo nearest us has been upgrading their exhibits in the past few years and has added a gorilla exhibit, penguin exhibit and just this spring, a lion exhibit. I think my favorite exhibit, though, are the giraffes. They are so tall and regal and amazing. They don't perform or do anything spectacular but I just love to watch them move.

Bring on summer!

I thought once school ended that things would start to slow down a little bit for our family - boy was I wrong! The girls are both playing t-ball this summer (on the same team thankfully) so we've been running back and forth to practice twice a week and games haven't even started yet! VBS is next week, church camp is the following week, and then we have a much-anticipated break for a few weeks before we start getting things ready for the county fair. We'll have to add swimming lessons in there sometime too but I haven't heard when they're being offered locally yet.

We're planning our annual family vacation for sometime in August, depending on when school starts. That calendar is still being debated so we're biding our time waiting for the district to make a decision. I think we've decided to go to Colorado Springs for our vacation time. We've done Oklahoma and Texas in the past few years and after Paul went to a work retreat in CO Springs he decided that it would be a neat place to go back and visit as a family. I haven't researched the area much, but I have heard that it has a fantastic zoo, beautiful scenery, and some good shopping. Sounds perfect to me! :) I always look forward to our vacation time, as it's the longest amount of time we get to spend together during the year uninterrupted by anything else. It's so nice to just spend the time being a family without juggling a million other things during the day.

A Look Back at May

May has been a whirlwind of activity for our family. The end of soccer season, field trips, field days, picnics, the beginning of t-ball season, school programs, church activities and on and on . . . and we've still got a lot of things before the month is over.

Still to come is a super fun Memorial Day weekend and Corbin's 7th birthday party. She has picked a luau theme and wants grass skirts and the whole thing. I can hardly wait to get it all put together and watch them enjoying the party. :) She finished the first grade with flying colors, loves to read, draw, craft, and color.

Camryn just finished her first year of preschool. I'm amazed that all that she's learned throughout the year. She can write her name, count as high as you ask her to count, and say the Pledge of Allegiance. She's excited to go into the 4 year old program and is dying to learn to read!

Callan is just amazing. He learns new words and new things every day and brings joy to our lives. He's trying to drag us into potty training way before mom and dad are ready too. It's been about a month now that he's shown interest in pottying so we've just about decided to give in and get moving on it. Seems a little backwards, doesn't it? ;)

That's our May in a nutshell - a very big nutshell! :)

FOBTY May 14

In honor of George Lucas' birthday, I took the "Star Wars Name" quiz. Here are the results. lol

Your Star Wars Name Is Heasm Comed

Your Star Wars Title Is Hticho of Luap

What Is Your Star Wars Name and Title?

FOBTY May 7 - What part of spring are you?

I loved this quiz and the results are really pretty on target! :)

You Are Blooming Flowers

You are an optimistic person by nature. In even the darkest times, you are hopeful about the future. You feel truly blessed in life and can sometimes be overwhelmed with emotions. You have an artist's eye. You are always looking for beauty in the mundane. You have a good sense of aesthetics, especially when it comes to shapes and color.

What Part of Spring Are You?

FOBTY April 10 - What Easter candy am I?

Jelly beans!?!?! Yuck! Unless they're Jelly Bellies . . . :) And how did I get that anyway since I answered that Easter IS a spiritual holiday for me? Hmmmm. Whatever.

You Are Jelly Beans

For you, Easter is all about fun and sweet treats. None of that Jesus dying on a cross stuff!

What Easter Candy Are You?

FOBTY April 2

Three full months have passed in 2009 and I'm FINALLY going to try to get back into the challenges at SSD. I haven't been keeping up with anything - SSD, my blog, scrapping, etc. I started scrapping again last month and am finally getting back into the groove and playing catch-up with everything I missed.

This week's FOBTY asked me to name 5 television shows that I have watched in their entirety. I am an admitted TV junkie, so I think I could name even more than that, but for the sake of the quiz, I'll stick with 5. Some of these are kind of embarrassing but keep in mind that many of them I've watched since I was very young, so I've had quite a few years to watch them all. LOL Without further ado . . .

1. Little House on the Prairie
2. Three's Company
3. Friends
4. The Golden Girls
5. And a newer one too - How I Met Your Mother